


Watch Over Me

by SilenceIsGolden15



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo 2k19 [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Bedside Vigils, Episode: s01e01 The Rise of Voltron, Gen, Idk this one is short, Keith (Voltron) Has Abandonment Issues, Keith's Lonely Shack of Sadness, Prompt: bedside vigil, Tranquilizers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:27:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21696925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilenceIsGolden15/pseuds/SilenceIsGolden15
Summary: Garrison tranquilizers are strong, and it takes Shiro a while to wake up.
Relationships: Keith & Shiro (Voltron)
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo 2k19 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1554010
Comments: 9
Kudos: 310
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	Watch Over Me

**Author's Note:**

> Short and sweet with a dash of angst. Voila

Pidge closed her eyes as a warm desert breeze whispered over her cheeks. It dried the cold sweat that had covered her during their wild escape from the impact site-- especially that cliff dive. God, this Keith kid must be crazy.

Lance certainly seemed to think so. He was still huffy and offended, stomping around on the porch of the tiny shack they now sat in front of. Keith hauled Shiro inside about half an hour ago and slammed the door in their faces, denying them entry and answers. 

But as much as Pidge wanted to grill Shiro for answers about her family, she could wait a little while longer. The look in Keith’s eyes was too similar to her own for her to demand anything from him. 

Hunk sat on the rickety rocking chair. But he kept his feet braced on the floor and didn’t let it rock, probably too nauseous for it still. 

“I can’t believe it,” Lance was saying, apparently still on his soapbox. “We helped him with his escape and he just ignores our existence!”

“I don’t think we actually helped much,” Pidge said, rubbing the dust out of her eyes. “We just tagged along.”

Lance huffed again, but didn’t answer. For a moment there was quiet, and Pidge looked up at the stars that she’d been studying so hard for so many months. 

The silence was broken by the squeak of hinges. Pidge turned to see that the door to the shack had opened, and Keith was standing there. His eyes looked glassy, like he wanted to cry, but he didn’t let the tears fall. 

“You can come in if you want,” he said gruffly, then awkwardly turned on his heel and disappeared inside again, leaving the door open. 

So, after a few confused looks and shrugs exchanged, they filed in after him. 

The shed was tiny. All one room; a couch that probably served as a bed, a coffee table that was made of a single plank of wood propped on bricks and stacked books, more books and rolled up papers shoved into corners and boxes in precarious towers. There were a few posters on the walls, mostly of hoverbikes, and one other thing that was covered in a sheet.

The aura inside was… tired. That same exhaustion was reflected in the bags under Keith’s eyes. 

Keith had, apparently, been doing some preparation while they’d been outside. The man they had rescued was lying on the couch, cushions stacked under his head and a blanket laid over his body. On the coffee table was a stack of granola bars and a pitcher of water. 

“Have what you want,” Keith said, waving a hand at the table. “Just leave enough for Shiro when he wakes up.” Then he sat down on the floor between the couch and the table, facing the former, and folding his arms on a tiny slip of the couch that wasn’t taken up, he leaned his chin on them and went still. 

Lance was distinctly less haughty as he looked around the shack. Pidge had no idea what was going on in his head, but she hoped it would result in him being less antagonistic-- at least as long as they were in Keith’s house.

Hunk was already investigating the granola bars, but hadn’t any yet, instead carefully counting and separating them into piles. 

Pidge just… hovered. She was itching to start asking questions, but Keith didn’t seem to be paying attention to any of them. He just sat beside the couch, watching Shiro with a quiet intensity burning in his eyes like a crackling flame. 

Eventually she picked a corner, sat down, and waited. 

* * *

Keith usually wasn’t one for sitting still. He hated waiting, inactivity, being still. But no power in the universe could’ve made him move from Shiro’s side. 

He still wasn’t sure he wasn’t dreaming. There was no way he could be this lucky, no way the universe would be kind enough to him to give Shiro back after he disappeared like everyone else. But as far as he could tell… it was real. 

Shiro looked different, obviously. And judging by the scar and the missing arm and the white hair, wherever he’d been for the last year hadn’t been a pleasant place. But that information was nearly negligible. All that mattered was that he was here. He was here and he was alive and Keith didn’t have to be alone anymore. 

The floorboards creaked, but he still flinched when someone tapped his shoulder.

“Sorry!” said a voice, which Keith recognized as belonging to the big nervous guy who had caught a ride on his hover. When he turned the boy was wearing that same anxious expression, though tinged with worry and concern rather than blind adrenaline fueled terror. “I just wanted to see if you wanted one.” 

He held out his hand, one of the protein bars cradled in his palm. Keith almost scoffed and shook his head. 

“No, I’m ok.” His voice still sounded hoarse, but after months of not talking to anything but himself and some cave drawings, it was amazing he still remembered how to interact with a human being. 

“You’re not hungry?” he pressed.

Honestly, Keith was hungry. His body was shaking from the adrenaline crash and he felt a little sick-- he’d been too nervous to eat anything all day, watching for the arrival the cave drawings predicted. But he couldn’t concern himself with eating right now. Right now he had to stay by Shiro, keep his attention on Shiro, lest he disappear again. 

“No. I’m fine.”

This time the big guy seemed to get the hint and moved away. Keith turned back to Shiro, watching his chest rise and fall and counting the breaths. Just to be sure he was still alive. 

In the rest of the shack he could hear his unexpected guests shifting around, occasionally murmuring to each other in quiet tones. He heard papers rustling. Probably one of them snooping through his stuff, but he didn’t care. Nothing he had in there was damning. It was all just photographs of cliffs and discarded sticky notes and photocopies of pages from books about stars. 

The things that had been his life ever since he left the Garrison. 

Watching Shiro’s face, that thought was suddenly terrifying. Shiro had sacrificed so much to get him into the Garrison, took the hits to his reputation that every one of Keith’s slip-ups caused. And Keith had gone and gotten himself kicked out. 

He could see it so clearly. How Shiro’s face would look when he told him, how his lips and the corners of his eyes would turn down in disappointment. He could feel the tension in the air as Shiro decided to distance himself, when the whole gleaming illusion of Keith’s potential came crumbling down. He could see Shiro disappearing again, this time by choice, and suddenly it felt a little harder to breathe. 

But as scary as it was, he still couldn’t tear himself away. Shiro could make his own choices, cast him off or not, but until that happened Keith wasn’t going to abandon him. Compared to the overwhelming disbelief and relief of seeing Shiro alive again, Keith’s fear felt small and insignificant. 

“I’m not gonna lie, dude, you’re kinda creeping me out.” Keith jerked his eyes away in annoyance, searching for the cargo pilot that had spoken. He was lounging against one of the walls, idly tossing some unimportant object up and down, up and down in his hand. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Keith looking and tacked on, “Seriously, you shouldn’t watch people sleep. It’s weird.”

Keith’s lips peeled back from his teeth in a snarl. “Fuck off.”

He turned resolutely back to Shiro while the cargo pilot blustered something behind him that he didn’t care to hear. He didn’t care about him. He barely even remembered him. What did his opinion matter?

“A presumed dead pilot just fell out of the sky, Lance,” said a third voice, the one belonging to the smallest of the trio. “The whole situation is pretty weird.”

It sounded like a defense, but Keith wasn’t going to read too much into it. Bad things happened when he assumed someone’s intentions. 

He had no idea how long he sat there. The Garrison cadets mingled and moved around and discussed things with each other and Keith sat still, waiting. His legs fell asleep and went to pins and needles and his eyes grew heavy, but still he waited. 

Eventually Shiro began to stir; first a slight twitch in his metal fingers, then a groan and a twist on the narrow couch, before his eyes finally fluttered open. 

Their eyes met, and for a long moment Keith held his breath. He had no idea what Shiro’s condition would be, what the trauma was, if he’d even remember or recognize Keith. 

Then Shiro blinked, and a disbelieving smile appeared on his face. 

“Keith?”

Keith smiled back, and finally a tear escaped and slid down his cheek. 

“Hey, Shiro. Welcome home.”


End file.
